Philadelphia

Today marks one weak of the mission trip being over. But really, it has only just begun. God does not send us out for a week but our whole lives are to be a mission. A mission to be the hands and feet of the Lord.

Our week in Philadelphia was nothing short of incredible. I walked out onto Kensington Avenue (a street just littered with homeless, addicts, and the power of God) with a mission of showing as much love as I could to the homeless, to pray with them and give them hope, and to be a light on a dark street. I walked onto the street I had a certain pitty in my head and in my eyes I am sure. Oh, how God uses us in our ignorance and weakness! By the end of the week I was down right overjoyed to go see if my new friends were on Kensington and what they would have to teach me that day. You see God's light had been on that street all along...it wasn't void until the we came along...it was already powerful and ready to show us a thing or two. I saw teenagers come to love this street and the people on it. They developed a passion for the hurting and the oppressed and also got a glimpse of a faith I am not sure we had ever seen. Of course there were people we got to share our faith with, and pray with but the faith of some of these people was truely humbling. As I walked to this street to share my faith and God's love for a couple of hours there are already people there who have nothing, who are there all of the time living on the streets who love God with all they are and are showing it too. They see their need for Him and have no bitterness for their circumstance. Could I do that?

I have been asking, begging really for God to show me things as He sees them so that I could have His kind of love and passion for people. He showed me just a small percentage through these people and I think we all left being able to see people as children of God and not as poor people, or addicts who are totally different from us.

Aside from Kensingtion, we also had the opportunity to do a VBS for about 12 kids that the AIM staff spends time with year-round. Humility, once again. Some of these kids are completely neglected and just need a hug. They need to know that Jesus loves them. I thought we were there to plant that seed. Yeah, no. God had been planting and cultivating that through the staff for years. We were there, or at least I think God put me there to show me once again, His love. We were there to do a little bit of seed watering but really I thank God for the Aim staff. They are the ones who have given their lives to show these kids what nobody else has. Jesus.

So, I thank God for Philadelphia, for His prescence there, for showing it to us, for unifying us, humbling us, and for ultimately for giving us a passion to find our own Philadelphia at home.